Barber's
Big Hit
The Hard Knocks camera crews may be all over the field, but the hardest knock Thursday came from starting running back Marion Barber.
Barber de-cleated linebacker Tyson Smith with a hard helmet-to-helmet block in a pass rushing drill. It took Smith a good 30 seconds to pick himself off the ground, effectively ending the drill.
"I think Tyson will be out (Friday)," said head coach Wade Phillips.
Earlier in the drill, Smith put a good hit on Barber that sent him to the ground, but Barber isn't the kind to get knocked down and stay there.
"It was bound to come back around," said fullback Deon Anderson, who said he's never had a block like that in his year of NFL experience. Anderson also said that Barber curls with 65-pound dumbbells nightly in his room, along with working on his "punch."
But according to Smith, it was more than a punch.
"It was just a helmet-to-helmet hit, and I kind of blacked out for a second," said Smith, who spent part of last year on the practice squad. "(Barber) got me underneath and I was a little high. He had a little motivation on the second
one. I beat him the first time and he beat me real bad the second time."
The Cowboys
other running backs aren't nearly as skilled as Barber when it comes to blocking, Phillips said, so that drill will be used more often.
"We're going to work some one-on-ones with the backs against the backers," Phillips said. "I thought our young backs did a pretty good job for the first time really going through it."
- Zach Buchanan
Attached Image
Football Thread 2008
